Tennis-racket.



No. 763,059. PATENTED JUNE 21, 1904. J. E. H. HYDE.

TENNIS RAUKET.. APPLICATION FILED 001. 26, 1903.

no MODEL.

27y? ye Patented June 21, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN HINDON HYDE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y;

T ENNlS-RAcKET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 763,059, dated June 21, 1904.

Application filed October 26, 1903. Serial No. 178,462. (No model.)

To (LU whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN EDMUND HINDON HYDE, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of New York, borough of Queens, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Tennis-Rackets, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the production of a new article of manufacture, which consists of a racket used for playing tennis, (either lawn-tennis or court-tennis,) or rackets, or similar games in which the playing-surface consists of lengths of gut or string, which have knots made in such lengths of gut or string at intervals, but which are not interknotted together.

The object of my invention is to produce a racket having an uneven playingsurface formed by projections thereon, whereby a cut or rotary motion can be more readily im-v parted to the ball than is now possible with the rackets in general use, while accurate direction can be better given to a driven ball in placing.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a string or gut length knotted upon itself only at intervals. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view showing the preferable location of the knots upon the playingsurface.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a racket having a playing-surface consisting of knotted strings. Fig. 4 illustrates the position of the ball in its impact upon the playing-surface between adjacent knots. Fig. 5 shows a possible, but inferior, modification in which the knots are made by tying short separate pieces of string or gut around the crossing-points of the longitudinal and latitudinal strings. The particular kind of knot which is to be tied in the strings or gut may of course be varied, provided it is sufficiently large to insure an efficient hold on the ball and presents substantially the same projec tion on each side of the racket. I have found what is called a double knot to be efficient.

A modified, but, I think, inferior, result may be produced by tying short separate lengths of gut or string around the longitudinal and latitudinal strings at their crossingpoints; but in such case the knots must have the characteristics described, while they must not tie the crossing-strings together in such manner that the strength of one string is dependent upon that of the other. Thus I am aware that it has been proposed to construct a racket with a playing-surface consisting of a large number of gut strings netted together toward the center in curves and laced into the frame of the racket around the periphery of the network. Such a construction as this would not be within my invention and is open to insuperable objections. The ordinary netting knot proposed in such case would not be suitable for my purpose, while netting the strings together of itself prevents every string from being stretched tight in every portion at the same time that it makes each string dependent upon every other, so that if one string breaks all the others become loosened. Not only is this looseness fatal, but to restring a racket having a network playingsurface requires a renewal. of the entire net. In my construction, on the other hand, each longitudinal string must be stretched independently of the latitudinal strings, and the converse.

In practicing my invention to the best advantage either each of the longitudinal strings or latitudinal strings, or both, should be stretched (either dry or moist) and then knotted upon itself at suitable intervals, then stretched so as to draw the knots very tight, and then the strings interlaced through the rim of the racket and each other in the method now commonly practiced with plain unknotted strings.

i In the modification suggested and illustrated in Fig. 5, in which separate pieces of gut are used to make the knots, it will be observed that the strings are separately and independently stretched, so that if a knot should break or wear out the stretched strings would. not 2. A racket having a playing-surface con- I 0 be aflected, while if one string should break sisting of independentlyad3ustable crossed no other string would be alfected. gut or strings and projections carried by said Having thus described my invention, What strings at crossing-points, substantially as de- 5 I claim is scribed.

1. A racket having a playing-surface con- J. E. HINDON HYDE. sisting of independently-adjustab1e strings Witnesses: having knots thereon at intervals, substan- JAMES J CosGRoVE,

tially as described. JOHN E. JUDGE. 

